“PARTIALLY-sighted and only able to walk with the aid of a stick, Jacqueline Harris suffered crippling pain due to slipped discs in her back and neck. Her mobility was reduced further when a dog savaged one of her wrists.

“Despite being in agony which strong pain relief could not ease, the 53-year-old was deemed to be fit for work following a government health assessment and told to find a job.

“Her sister claims the verdict that she was ineligible for disability benefits drove her to take her own life earlier this month.”

Predictably both the DWP, and Atos have attempted to wash their hands of the affair. There will be no apology for this tragic loss of life and Atos claim it is nothing to do with them: “we do not make decisions on people’s benefit entitlement, nor are we involved in the appeal process.”

If this were a banker, or businessman who had been driven to suicide over a Government policy then this story would be on the front page of every newspaper. When a yuppy jumps out of a skyscraper, or a celebrity has a breakdown, we are all invited to share in their tragedy. The rich ‘feel’ things more than the poor the media narrative suggests. Meanwhile reports of suicides due to welfare reform are shrugged off by right wing newspaper columnists as the “act of someone in a fevered, unstable state of mind.” If the poor cannot cope with their poverty then that is a personal failing, not a problem with how society is structured.

Only the wealthy might be troubled by losing their income – the horny-handed working class are expected to get on with things, make do and mend, or queue outside foodbanks with a stiff upper lip. Hunger and homelessness is just a triviality compared to a dent in the investment portfolio or having to sell the second home.

When campaigners have warned that Atos Kills this has not been hyper-bole. The problem is that the ruthless assessments for sickness and disability benefits kill the wrong people to have any major media impact. There is more sympathy for the squeezed middle-classes having to cut down skiing holidays than there is for people driven to desperate acts due to having nothing at all. Atos merely culls in the eyes of this Government and those who support them, and many of them see nothing wrong with that.

185 responses to “Another Tragic Atos Death: RIP Jacqueline Harris”

@Johnny Void the stock answer from DWP FOI requests into welfare reform mortality rates is ” we are not obliged to tell you..under our twisted version of the public interest ..and anyway it would cost too much for us to be bothered to get off out arses and find out..ie the 600 quid rule..

Added to which a worrying trend of strange characters who show up online and deny there are or have been any deaths and in fact anyone who suggests such a thing is lying and scaremongering ..I have no idea who these ppl are but they come out of no where and attack you ..very odd..

Even the dyed in the wool Tory can’t agree what this Tory government is doing to the poorest and disabled people in this country.
They ring fence the overseas aid budget to £12 billion pounds and the treat the disabled and poor to benefit cuts to pay for it,I’m ashamed to be British,I really am.

The point of overseas aid is it eventually goes to rich people. Poor people pay taxes so their money can be given to rich people in other countries. Works everywhere. See the big piles of food and supplies at airports for the Phillippines? What prices are paid for them and who owns the companies they’re bought from? Be interesting to know…

It’s in the Tory nature to be this way, it’s just that any shred of humanity that existed during the thatcher era no longer exists in this current generation of tory boys and girls. They are so far right they indeed walk into fascism than any previous generation dared since WW2. We fought two world wars against this and now in 2013 we see it in the very nature and policies of this Tory led coalition, there is no place in a forward thinking modern political party to hold to this kind primitive political agenda.The Tories are so out of touch they could never convincingly govern in this modern age with any degree of acceptable quality.. they are purely motivated by their own selfish requirements, many are career politicians and some unfortunately like IDS have a point to prove and ultimately always fails in almost all aspects in his desire to prove he is not a 100% idiot and tries to make all things he attempts into a vanity project…and fails.

I think there is significant concern that IDS is not of sound mind and in many ways putting him into the cabinet position he holds has merely created an extension of an already unbalanced individual with an inferiority complex when he was once considered a “Nice” bloke. Of course he now subscribes to the theory that nice guys always come last.. and we seen the failing of the nice side of IDS in previous years and now we see the ridiculously nasty nature of a man behaving the way he does simply because he can and he does indeed think it reflects better upon him because hurting vulnerable people probably gives this flaccid dick a boner in private as he thinks up new ways to grab the news headlines… he will be a failure to his grave, no matter how many he may send there before himself…. it is folly what he does and it is doomed.

Once this party is taken out in 2015 they MUST NEVER be allowed to sneak back into power for decades to come, they must remain on the opposition side of the house, I think we need a proper reform of our political system, it is antiquated and does not serve the modern age, it fails across many levels for a majority of people living in this country we need a proper Peoples Independence Party, not full of a load of rich toffs or oddball crackpots with just a few policies to their names. It’s been too long since we have felt a government has been working for us, they work for themselves yet people gave them the power albeit by default and they have abused it time and time again, they don’t even involve peoples opinions in policies this coalition does ignore the genuine people of this country.

Once they are out a coalition must scrap workfare, it’s the biggest waste of money and fails on too many levels and creates misery and affords no dignity in what is supposed to be a democratic country. Also they should scrap the bedroom tax for social housing and private sector tenants, it’s an idiotic idea that should never have been allowed to pass through and make law. We must fight this governments illusion of tearing up human rights, they will tell you it’s because we are sick of terrorists living in this country and living off it whilst seeking to do it hard. Fact is they want to remove all protection so we have nothing but a crudely cobbled together revision that may sort the terrorists in the UK being sent back to their countries but it will also compromise peoples human rights, not that it’s not already happening.

As luck would have it I think IDS is about to make his first Mega mistake that will sound the death knoll to his political masterplan regarding the welfare state. Even he has limitations and soon what he attempts will be a step too far.. the straw that breaks the camels back so to speak. We have an idea what he is about to attempt but only a psychotic would go ahead with it and that would confirm all that we already know about IDS
in recent years. Fact is he could have reformed welfare without all what he has done instead he has wasted tax payers money on various idiotic policies that are already doomed to failure. He cannot hide from what he is and that is the reason he is now thinking he can obtain respect from disrespect.. it’s straight out of a comic book.

Everyone who comes here is under no illusion what the welfare exists for and who it should rightly provide for… IDS is effectively moving the goalposts in order to exact his feeble policy agenda’s because he knows the welfare state MUST exist but that goes against his extreme right wing fascist beliefs that is should not exist in any shape or form so he is attempting by a web of questionably legal policies to deny people their rights to claim specific benefits due to their legal right to do so. They are trying to mire it all down in ATOS assessments and workfare.. Remember Cameron saying they would get rid of quango’s?.. we have never seen so many since this coalition stole power…. it’s time to look beyond this goose-stepping monstrosity of an excuse for a political party.. enough is enough… one can have too much of their dignity taken away from them and then it gets personal.. man for man woman for woman child for child.
in the end people grow sick and tired of feeling sick and tired. This coalition carries no moral messages and it’s laughable that so many of them consider themselves Christians. That says it all really, hijack a faith of convenience and all we must do is send in the lions for this lot.

Absolutely disgusted.Evil is a very inadequate word for this government.My sincere condolences to Jacquelines family.I hope all those who are responsible for this cruelty are consigned to oblivion in 2015.

They could be consigned to oblivion or their wings severely clipped before 2015 if we had credible parties on the opposite side of the house, we have nothing in Labour, they are just a wet wank when it comes to ordinary peoples human rights. Fact is policies are rushed through, given approval and no real protest is truly happening, might get a few passively shouting “We don’t like that, you horrible people” then it goes all quiet and it then comes into law. That’s pretty much the level of protest today in the UK and nobody really cares because the country is no longer proud or even country born to care enough. It only hurts when people are personally affected… it’s just sheer self really that makes people protest rather than a collective concern for one’s fellow man, woman or child. Some people may care but not enough… the Tories have won, the country is under the thumb of extreme right wing policies dangerously veering into fascism. Sir Oswald would be proud of this generation of Tories..

This needs to be sent all the MP’s who voted for this ‘murdrering company’ as they seem to know nothing about disablity or even care, and yet they take a small fortune in Tax payers money. This will not stop until one of them suffer at the hands of these so called human beings.
I am apauld of the treatment Jacqueline received she was a human being driven to a early death because of this government.This is making me so angry. There is something wrong with these people it’s not mental it’s evil!
So sorry to her family and friends.

There needs to be a massive names list of all those who are dead as a result of ATOS and it should be placed on a flyer in red with the face of IDS on it and “Working to reduce the Excess Population and Welfare Requirements”. a Red hand print. There needs to be some significant symbolism in the opposite direction… one that burns into the minds of people.. the minds of those who consider themselves on the side of humanity and not a subhuman.

Duncan Smith & the tories are acting like the natzis embarking on their own form of eugenics. They will not be happy until they have exterminated anyone who dosn’t fit their idea of the perfect wage-slave.

Reblogged this on Beastrabban’s Weblog and commented:
This is, tragically, just one more poor soul added to the hundreds or thousands of other desperate and disabled people, who’ve killed themselves after ATOS defied medical evidence and decided that they were fit for work. I’m reblogging this as it’s especially important to me, as this poor woman comes from my own home town, Bristol. And every word The Void has said here is absolutely correct. Either he or one of the other Left-wing blogs – possibly Another Angry Voice, produced an infamous quote from one of the Tories to the effect that the poor should be more flexible than the rich, as they have less to lose. They really do believe that the working class do feel misfortune and hardship less than the poor. In his column in the Mail on Sunday about a year or so ago, Peter Hitchens declared that prison as a deterrent and punishment for crime had been undermined by middle class activists. He believed that the campaigns for prison reform by middle class left-wingers had made prison too soft. These people had campaigned after they had been imprisoned for their political beliefs, and had found it unbearable. They did not, however, take into account that prison wasn’t meant for them, but for the tough hoi polloi. As a result, according to Hitchens, prison was now longer sufficiently hard to deter those same hoi polloi from turning to crime. Every now and then Private Eye presents the opposite argument to this, in the form of another young person, who committed suicide in prison or a police jail, after being arrested for a trivial offence. There are problems with the prison system, but after listening to some lags working on probation and prison chaplains, I don’t believe that jail is as soft of the Right-wing media would have us believe. The Coalition simply couldn’t care less about the poor. As for Thierry Breton, the head of ATOS, even before he ran that company he was responsible for multiple suicides. He was head of France Telecom when it was being privatised. Thanks to his bullying regime, 35 employees took their own lives. And I believe the Void is absolutely correct when he says that these deaths will not make national news, because they don’t involve a banker or rich celebrity.

southBriz | Monday, November 25 2013, 12:09PM
“There’s no evidence at all that this woman killed herself as a result of losing benefits, there’s not even any evidence that she killed herself deliberately. You argue that one of a thousand things led her to suicide, if she did indeed kill herself”

This is the kind of drip fed tosh that keeps showing up every time there is s tragedy like this…

And so the social cleansing continues, how much pleasure does this low-life government derive from murdering? Why isn’t there any outcry from human rights organisations? Why is no-one planning to assassinate these Nazis? How do I get to know of someone who has the guts to take drastic measures, I would gladly join them!

It would be a very naïve person who did not consider a good many of these cases are directly or indirectly associated with the cruel policies this Tory party are happy to cook up. Sometimes solid proof is not always possible, as you say.. there could be many reasons for this poor woman’s death but I would bet the planet on the fact being down to losing benefits. When a person stares into the abyss and all they can see is endless blackness.. when they are not mentally and/or physically okay it has a knock-on effect and that can drive a person to make a decision to no longer be a burden to their family and as Tories would convey in their propaganda.. “Burden to Tax Payers”.. yes.. the Tories cannot remove welfare but they can prevent as many as possible from claiming their legal rights by moving the goalposts time and time again. Soon there will be more people in so-called voluntary work than those earning a solid week or months pay for a solid week or months work… just to massage the bloody figures.

Glad someone finds it amusing… if you didn’t laugh you would cry. Lord knows more than a few people do that under the coalition. When a person has few options on the table (Including food), they will explore their base instincts and law seldom comes into it… nor so-called moralistic propaganda stooges opinions.

This reflects more on the political leanings from one newspaper to another, there are many who are middle of right, some left wing or left of centre but we often only see it in some left wing supporting papers with the columnist’s
opinions. The tory propaganda works very well indeed.. one size fits all, one face also fits all when it comes to the lies and stereotypes they use.

Yes, I agree with you. Apart from a short time in history when disabled people successfully achieved more rights through bloody hard work, for all of recorded history, there have been disgusting attitudes and practices in place to either maim,kill,warehouse or shun those of us with disabilities. Duncan-Smith is on a personal and ideological agenda of hate. He is a dangerous sociopath who must be tried and prosecuted for all the tragic needless deaths, despair and sufferings he has caused as well as for disability hate crime. . I am incandescent with rage at all these gold-plated toffster nightmares who are literally getting away with murder.

Do you know how hard it is for a guy to afford to put a meal on the table for his family each day then pay all the util bills,his rent every week and buy a copy of Shooting Monthly AND have enough money to buy a gun on the black market with it’s serial number filed off and get out alive to use it and hope it does not blow up in his hands?. lol

terrible news, so sad….yet another pointless death, at the hands of a totally brutal and uncaring system.
set to get much much worse as the life is squeezed out of the benefits system which brutally adds heftier millstones, to all of the well published changes that have taken place under the guise of welfare reforms over recent months and years, MR…http://disabilitynewsservice.com/2013/09/dwp-dismisses-talk-of-fitness-for-work-catch-22/ …so now a new medical diagnostic breakthrough that all medical professionals should take note of…dr dr, can i have a medical cert…..did you get here by bus…no!…goodbye..so the bus test must also delete the need for operations, and all manner of other medical conditions and complications…don’t need atos any more, coz they can use the public transport test…or i arrived by taxi test, or lucky i was in the enterprise at the time, or the pulse test…i’ll let the lancet know…maybe if she caught the bus in the andes, i might understand atos logic…or if she said she arrived on the back of a flat bed truck, or a cattle truck…bus company’s please note, so now it’s official the sick and disabled cannot travel by bus, they are only for able body people and are not entitled to use any form of transport, so if one has a motablity car?? …we need an urgent update from atos re-permitted sick and disabled transport….
the DM is not even medically trained, so atos clearly do make the medical decision that one is fit for work, inspite of one’s own gp and in fact often a whole line of gp’s in many cases, ticking box “not fit for work” and the entire nhs agreeing with these gp’s, and of course the sick and disabled person who has complained of their symptoms that lead to this conclusion and of course one’s medically proven diagnosis… the DM prefers the one decision over another usually that of an RGN, as opposed to highly trained and often eminent medical staff working the nhs…clearly we live in a capitalist world of the survival of the fittest…the cruelty being with the loss of vital benefits…one is further submitted to trail by ordeal to prove need, and complete a massive amount of paper work just to get minimum benefits, never mind the potential loss of other types of passported benefits that can render rent unpayable…

Yes…lazy bastard you should have jogged all the way to hospital ..you needed to lose weight with all that food you eat . giving money to people and them wasting it on food ..monies
should be given to wealthy people who would invest it in private health care….

“A decision on whether someone is well enough to work is taken following a thorough assessment and after consideration of all the supporting medical evidence.”

A thorough assessment ? Two minutes after arriving at the Atos assessment she was asked one question .” did you arrive here by
bus ? ”
TiTo which she honestly answered ” yes ”
That was it. That was the whole assessment and based on that single answer that poor woman was stripped of her benefits …
Because of her severe disability she feared trying for work knowing full well no one take her on and doing a punishing 9 to 5 work routine would leave her in even more agony ..she knew she wouldn’t be able to cope…

I am warming to them every moment I read about them and DWP…” We are very sorry about this death but when we handed her the gun and suggested she end it all we didbt think she would really do it..clearly she was unbalanced in her mind and only a dose of hard work with low pay would have cured her…still thats another few quid that the taxpayer won’t have to cough up just as well as Atos4E are putting out the begging bowl again …

What’s that?.. work with low pay?.. steady on bob!.. people will start thinking REAL work exists where people actually get paid.. that would never do and would seriously damage the reputation of workfare. We cannot have that.. people starting to think they can actually get paid for working.. good lord man! before you know it people will start thinking we actually need the NHS instead of private healthcare. Then people start thinking they are free as a bird in a socialist society until they notice they have wings and all around them is white… oh dear we followed the sign saying “The Easy Way Out”… it seemed so logical at the time.

The newer electric meters have built-in bypass detection (it uses a small transformer to detect the minute drop in voltage across the terminals) i.e. if you short the incoming and outgoing connections. A pre-payment meter will set a ‘flag’ on your key which will be sent to the leccy company when you next top up. It can still be done 🙂 but is not quite as straightforward as just shorting a couple of wires.

Also if you ever remove the actual cover from your pre-payment electricity meter (no need to, but if you do) (there is a sensor to detect cover removal) you wont be able to top up until the leccy company investigate.

Also, the longer you have an account the more data we have an the more accurate your profile will be. If you suddenly no longer require you electric heaters 🙂 you will go ‘out of profile’, even hand-held devices can detect this condition (they display a handy graph)

Also you are also ‘profiled’ on your local area (the average consumption from the local transformer) and what your estimated consumption for a similar household should be. It is not like you cannot say you do not use any electricity. 🙂 Why do things have to be complicated – darn!

Basically, the jobcentre are just stopping jobseeker’s benefits for any spurious reason they can think of…. and what can you do about it? Have a sit-down protest – just going to call the cops and have you locked-up…. attack the advisor – again, just going to call the cops and get you locked up… oh, set fire to the jobcentre – definitely going to get you locked up… or drive a car through the jobcentre – most definitely going to get you locked up. And none of which is going to get your benefits reinstated anyway! Of course there is always ‘mandatory reconsideration’ (no time limit on that one)… then an Appeal. What else can a sanctioned jobseeker do? Oh yes, get angry at the ballot box lol Anything else…. ?

YES, YOU IDS WHO IMPLEMENTS AND OVERSEES THESE BRUTAL POLICIES ARE A FUCKING MURDERER!!
AND YOU THE FUCKING ‘ATOS ASSESSOR’ WHO CARRIED OUT THIS POOR WOMAN’S ‘ASSESSMENT’ IS A FUCKING MURDERER!!
AND YOU THE FUCKING DWP/JOBCENTRE ‘DECISION MAKER’ WHO STRIPPED THIS POOR WOMAN OF HER BENEFITS ARE A FUCKING MURDERER!!

YOU ALL HAVE BLOOD ON YOUR HANDS!!
YOU ARE ALL MURDERING FUCKING SCUM!!

“We give customers a JSA1(ils) form and are encouraged to get them to sign it to (re-open their claim if sanctioned), what we dont tell the customer is that signing this form puts another 2 weeks on the sanction.”

“We also do our referrals online now, and these are not vetted by anyone, so basically you could walk into a jobcentre and be pulled for not actively seeking, we would take the details of what you have been doing over the past fortnight and totally change your answers, thus guaranteeing a sanction.”

True, this is what they do, just bin your evidence and type any old shit onto the system. It’s bang out of order. It doesn’t matter what you say, do or have – you are going to be sanctioned – GUARANTEED!!

“the process has changed, if you have forgotten your looking for work book you now have to fill in this ASE stencil” – that’s how they get jobseekers, just say they haven’t produced their ‘looking for work’ booklet and fill in that ‘ASE stencil’ instead – that’s how they do it 🙂 Crafty cunts!!

A bigger crime and I dont want to trivialise the number of suicides is the number of unsuccessful suicides. I have myself been driven by DWP henchmen to attempt to take my own life on three occasions. I am now a physical and psychological wreck. I worry every day that the next brown envilope will be the last thing I will see on this earth and why to quench the blood lust of the snouts in the trough ruling class. The £87K that I traded for £105 on the breadline pales into insignificance when measured againt the cost of a decade of wonderful NHS treatments. I firmly beleve this unelected government’s agenda is one of final solution ugenics.

I mean there is a time limit on how long you have to challenge the decision, so it you reply to the ‘get in touch with us’ contact address’ your letter is only going to end up stuck in a PO sorting office somewhere – or is that the whole idea??

Of course a Cameron should chuck this evil bastard out on he’s fat little piggy feet, but i’m sure Duncan smith;s got a hold over him, mmmmm? something to think about. Of course Duncan smith himself is a sick bastard, far more than all the poor people he;s driven to suicide, but i make no excuses for the bald bastard!

The vast majority of millionaire MPs fiddling their expenses were never even followed up by the Police for fraud. Even the ones that were prosecuted served less than a quarter of the proscribed term and then all of them in cushy open prisons.

Yet they still carp on about saving the public purse …. why weren’t these powerful criminals fined like £1,000,000 each instead and the money they fiddled recovered through the proceeds of crime act each? Duckhouses to dukedoms.

As for IDS and the multi- millionaire owner of ATOS ….. sometime I pray that a psychotic gun man heavily armed with a machine gun does the decent thing and preferably maims both of these scum … yes I’d like to see if IDS gets passed fit for work when he’s been blinded and had both his arms and legs blown off. The gun man to blow as many Police scum hench men away as possible too.

I would like to tweet this, but can’t find it on YouTube!
I heard some weeks ago, that the maltreatment of the sick & disabled un this country, leading to deaths, may constitute a crime against humanity, and that a case was to be made in the International Criminal Court, naming Cameron and Duncan Smith.
Any news about this, from anyone?

It’s not unremarkable to notice the difference in tone and language afforded to the cricketer Jonathan Trott on his return from Australia. He will undoubtedly get lots of support and encouragement from those around him and the media and the elites – cos he’s one of them – the rest of us can go fuck ourselves

I made this a couple of months ago and put it on youtube. the video is marked private and only available by direct link. If you wish I could change it to public. The link is wwwDOTyoutubeDOTcom/watch?v=LmTI3NETGGs
substitute DOT with . Let me know if you want me to change the viewing to public. Still Oaks

It is the DWP and the ESA rules that are not fit for purpose and kill. Atos simply awards or witholds points using the absurdly unjust, illogical and highly partial points and descriptors systems.

So when Atos says (as you quote) “we do not make decisions on people’s benefit entitlement, nor are we involved in the appeal process.” they are right.
The decision is made by the DWP. And it is the DWP which has killed.

I think this is important. Constantly blaming Atos (I am not saying they are a good company, in fact a very bad company) means that the actual problem is deflected, so to speak. And it allows parties such as Labour to say they will sack Atos, and say little else. All well and good, sack Atos – and what then, simply another contractor brought in using the same rules and descriptors?

That’s like the pathetic mealy-mouthed excuse the work programme contractor: “we don’t sanction your benefit, it’s the DWP that does.”… but it’s the work programme contractor who refers jobseekers to the dwp ‘decision maker’ in the first place. Your attempt to whitewash ATOS’s part in this murder, because that is what it is – a murder, let’s not mince words – and absolve ATOS of any culpability in the woman’s death does not wash. ATOS are as part of the process just as the joiner who builds the gallows is and the executioner who pulls the lever is. Time for the DWP and ATOS to grow up and take responsibility for their actions. ATOS are as guilty as hell!

If you actually read precisely what I wrote you’ll see that I do not whitewash Atos at all. My point, if you read it, is that if you want to change things you have to target the real problem. I notice, with respect, you don’t say much about how sacking Atos will not change the descriptors and points system, which is what desperately needs changing to stop people dying.

It really isn’t rocket science. There are descriptors and points. You get points if you fulfil that descriptor. If you don’t, you don’t get the points. Unfortunately the points systems and the questions asked on the ESA50 form is unbelievably restrictive and based on lies and is heavily skewed towards awarding you as few points as possible even if you have serious conditions.

I know, because I fill in such forms. Regularly. I have been failed on points when I have a chronic condition. Technically Atos could not have awarded the points. Take a look at at form and any website explaining the decriptors. Choose any chronic illness and see how the form and the DWP system and approach totally ignores major symptoms of someone’s condition.

If people keep the same old tired cliched slogan i.e, that Atos Kills, then things will be the same in ten years time.

It is worth reading and thinking about what someone says, instead of a knee-jerk reaction about what you THINK the person has said.

dave
that is simply not right, the descriptors provide a framework for the info you provide to furnish them with, it is your voice that provides the info without your voice the descriptors are m/t, backed up by the vast nhs network, and box ticked “not fit for work”…
the major complaint against atos is inaccurate info, they also get paid for everyone they see….
the clue to the whole thing is LIMITED capability, therefore a severe lack of energy supply, demand, and recovery of said energy, as compared to a fit and healthy human being…everyone is entitled to be assisted by using public transport to get to a destination, to live on one’s own and be sick an disabled. true assistance is being carried about, their bias at it’s root essence directs one to the mind set, that to qualify for sickness and disability benefits, would require a person to be catatonic…the medical dispute is between the dwp and the nhs i wish they would get it sorted out ,it is causing massive human wreckage and costing £billions, of public money, much, much, more than the claimed “i believe” savings of £38bn, joined up accounting what with LA costs et al will show a vast net loss…

Cheers for the reply.
I am not denying that Atos do all they can to find a person fit for work, and that is, well, basically, evil and unjust.
But even if the points are awarded fairly (and I know in a sense they are a framework, but also in other senses they’re very precise – i.e. how far can you walk without discomfort, etc) then, for mental and behavioural problems, they ignore the highly fluctuating nature of many conditions. I find, first-hand, that the ESA50 itself is designed to deny people benefit, when clearly they are unable to work.
And without changing the ESA50 and assessment approach itself, I can’t see how things would be much better, even without Atos.

I do find it incredible that people campaigning against ESA and the injustice of it, do not attack more strongly and more consistently the actual structure of the desciptors, points systems, etc. which for me are the root of the problem.
I just think the approach taken by campaigners at the moment is inadequate.
Although i do think this blog is first rate, on the whole, and very well written.

dave
MR may have culled the e and sa system in any case….
the root of the problem is that the WCA even exists and that the onus for proving need is dumped on are those less able to do it ie the sick and disabled, the whole system is bias towards a fit for work decision…it’s existence is highly illogical….it is the system that has behavioural problems and is mentally ill…..the problems start when the sick and disabled are forced to respond to it, as if it is sane, it is not….

Another point is that even if Atos is partly culpable, which they are of course, being the organisation which implements part of the assessment process, why endless headlines only about them? I’d say about 90% of headlines about this issue don’t mention the DWP when most of the responsibility for this lies with the DWP, not Atos.

dave
atos do all in their power, to bias towards a fit for work decision and undermine the already undermined by cause of their sickness and disability, you obviously have not read and fully understood the e and sa regs, nor the UT rulings on the proper application of those regs…at root all sickness and disability is a profound loss/lack of energy compared to function as a fit and healthy person…..we all have our personal experiences of the wca, which by even it’s existence is provably highly illogical…

The whole process seems designed to make people commit suicide.
Fight, Flight, Freeze.
The Atos Dwp and associates have deliberately used a system that terrifies people into a freeze response.
They seem to know rather more about psychology than they would have us think.
Its deliberate and its evil.

caution
4 f’s, fight, flight, frozen, and freedom…yeah, they have a profound knowledge and application of one branch of psychology called, behaviourism, they know full well how to trigger people into providing the response they want….ie do as you are told, or else! aka capitalism, but they have hit a brick wall, coz, all, even they, can see that their demands are impossible to meet, there are no jobs, and millions of new jobs need to be created and simply cannot be, because there is little demand for vast industrial labour pools in the uk or globally for that matter,in this day and age, but they sadly still pretend there are… https://www.change.org/en-GB/petitions/david-cameron-stop-the-11-pay-rise-for-mps-salaries…

Well, the fight response it out the window – you just end up surrounded by G4S ‘customer care officers’! And where is there to flee to? So it only leaves the freeze response. They WANT you to commit suicide – DON’T DO IT!! Life goes on… long after the thrill of living has gone… 🙂

I do get what you are saying regards ATOS, but I would say you are incorrect.
Many of the reports from ATOS, are quite false. Decision Makers only have these reports to go on. They often have no 2nd opinion at time of decision. If ATOS declare someone fit for work, Decision Makers may often have little choice but to go along with it.
So ATOS does kill.
I get what you are trying to say regards DWP being responsible. But I give example here why it is not entirely DWP at fault, as far as assessment reports are concerned.
It is our understanding that with this poor lady, her big “in depth, rigorous and professional medical” consisted of one single question, and got one single question…..”Did she get the bus? …..Yes”
That was it. Well, so we have all been lead to believe. Have we got that wrong?
So, how then would some DWP Decision Maker, know that was all that particular assessment was made up of? They would have no way I would think. So ATOS is ultimately responsible.
The system is not designed for 2nd opinions at that moment of making decisions.

Which, while considering this response, made me think it through….
One can only conclude the system is quite deliberately set up this way. It is we could even say, quite an ingenious one. Whereby no individual person can be held to account for decisions made.
DWP can rightly say they are going strictly by ATOS reports. DWP folks almost never get to see the persons they make the judgments on, while ATOS can rightly say, they send reports to DWP. So in the end no one person can be accused of anything.
But ATOS use computer model style questions that take no account of the ppl in front of them. It again is quite deliberately designed this way. It removes a certain “personal” element from the guys doing the assessments.
Gives them a kind of almost clear conscious, or as has happened in practice, it removes all element of compassion from the entire process.
And just as DPW sanctions are state terrorism on the poor unemployed, and leads to ppl dying, and killing themselves, so too is ATOS a system of state sponsored murder and suicide. A form of genocide as it turns out.
But a most sinister form, as it is very hidden.

Yes… Ingenious and very deliberate! And those who designed it must have known this. They only cared about getting ppl off benefits, regardless of what was right.
This system was designed by the Labour Party. Those of us with concern could see that. It was pointed out for almost 2 years before Labour rule ended. That Gordon Brown couldn’t or didn’t want to see it leaves us wondering.
That the present REGIME knows it, and especially regards benefit sanctions, they have no excuses. They know what is happening, and are happy to maintain it. It makes it all the worse.

Of course it has been deliberately designed as such as a way of avoiding responsibility and absolving the murderers conscience (if they have any) – they can all blame each; its like an execution where a team of executioners (ATOS and the DWP) all press a (computer) button but nobody knows for sure who sprung the trapdoor (stripped this poor woman of her benefits).

while they are saving money on those entitled to benefits but are being sanctioned, they are giving away money to companies that provide free boilers to home owners or to tenants in private rented accommodation, to qualify you either have to be on pension credit or child tax credits providing you do not have an annual income that exceeds £15,860 (that is almost £400 per week.) then we have our local council offering crisis loans to those in crisis but only if they have their own address and not an adult living in with anyone – they are worse than useless and will only provide support when there is no support from other agencies, too bad if you don’t know what the other agencies are but I am sure the council will keep you running around looking for other sources before they put their hands in their pockets for the poorest.

About 2 or 3 years ago there was a case of an investment banker who jumped in front of a train (splat!) ,the report was all over the Daily Heil, “what a tragedy it was was for his family”, boo,hoo. I wrote in the comments words to the effect of “one less greedy banker, umpteen more to go..” & was torn to shreds by other commentators, “how could anyone be so heartless” blah, blah, blah. i really didn’t care, just told it like it is. I just felt sorry for the train driver.
Won’t be any sympathy for this poor lady or criticism of the DWP’s policies in the right-wing media though, it’ll be all her own fault for being poor & disabled.

‘IDS intends to disband the ESA WRAG group’,
Clearly we are not dying quickly enough for the likes IDS & his Tory chums.
As too many have been on it for 3 years or more it’s got to go, the fact that many of these people should be in the support group is irrelevant. More than half a million people would be then expected to claim JSA!!
This was reported in the Guardian on Saturday, sorry no link, but can be found by searching first line.

ab52
MR makes a mockery of e and sa…and leaves the benefit entitled e and sa, claimant profoundly short of money and blames the victim of sickness and disability, for not being passed unfit for work, ie not doing enough work to pass wca…or migrate to jsa, and still profoundly short of money their support amounts to taking all benefits away and now says it’s up to you….sink or swim, some support, eh!

“LONG LIVE OUR NOBLE QUEEN”, for christ’s sake it’s about time the folks of this island pulled their heads out of their arses and realised what the royal family are……………..
The biggest bunch of freeloaders on the block!!!!

SHE COULD NOT GIVE 2 FUCKS IF YOU LIVED OR DIED, GIVING ROYAL ASSENT TO THE GOVERNMENT TO INSTITUTE THE BIGGEST THEFT FROM THE POOREST WAS A REFLECTION OF HER TRUE COLOURS.

BLUE BLOOD, MY ARSE……….

YOU WON’T SEE HER OR HER ILK BEGGING IN A FOODBANK. FAR FROM IT, THE FOOD THEY THROW AWAY AT A STATE FUNCTION WOULD PROBABLY SUSTAIN A FAMILY FOR A YEAR.

SHE IS KEPT LIKE A QUEEN BEE, PROTECTED BY HER DRONES, THE PRIVILIGED ELITE, HER SOLDIERS………………………

THE HIVE WANTS A GOOD STOUT STICK PUSHING IN IT AND SHAKING ABOUT!
HONEY IS MONEY AND THEY THRIVE UPON IT AS WE STARVE, WAKE UP BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE……………

Call me sceptical but could it be that the new PIP form will not be available in electronic (Word or PDF) format because you can go into more detail about your problems when typing the answers than using handwriting.
Another ploy to claim the denial of benefit was for lack of written evidence ?

I Remember another organisation saying that they weren’t responsible for the deaths and were only carrying out orders;
cant for the life of me think who it was now. think it had a couple of SS’es in its name.

we are living in such dark times we will be long gone when history remembers and looks back at these times,i just hope that the next generation learn from this and doesnt let it happen again,i also hope that jcp advisors of today and ATOS are held to account and are not allowed “peace” cause they were “just doing there job”..it pains me asa christian to even think this..but i hope theyre hounded to there g…cant say it

The dual role of this organisation is inextricably linked to the DWP and form the most up to date, disability denial, killing machine that has ever been unleashed on the British public…………
I am one of the persons who was robbed of my benefits by a cold calculating nurse called Emma Brodrick.

She sought to fulfil her dream of making as much money as possible, whilst cooperating in a scheme that has brought misery to millions, whilst hiding behind the title of Health Care Professional.

Professional, they aint! far from it……………

They have been carefully instructed to utilise Biopsychosocial software called LIma, to misrepresent as many medical examinations as possible, hence the governments cover up of the contents of the actual contract.
Contracts are only hidden from public scrutiny for one reason, to cover up the alarming death rate that was expected to follow.

When my medical report came back i was stunned, to say the least.
The first sentences say i was able to move, with the aid of my stick, from a waiting area and managed without any problems to use a door handle.

The whole report is totally devoid of the condition of the patient and any discomfort they may be facing as a result of their actions.
I was seen to sit in a chair and rise from it. This is a blatant lie as i refused to sit at all. My report stated my back was examined, how could it be?, i was wearing a girdle with metal rods in the back!
Having bad hearing and severe tinnitus, i kept asking the nurse to repeat herself, she reported my hearing was ok.

My hands and one arm was badly cut from falling off a bus, my report never mentioned the bad cuts but reported i was fit to use public transport.
The duration of my medical was around thirty five minutes, the nurse was typing answers into a laptop for 28 minutes before a quick examination.

My report stated that i succesfully sat and rose from a chair, was examined on a couch and declined to do seventy five movements that i was asked to perform.

Strangely the report also states that i was observed to stand in one place for the whole duration of the examination.

My hands were examined to see if i could grip properly using my thumb and forefinger, obviously i can’t with having rheumatoid arthritis and a cut tendon in one hand. It was reported as client declined.

A good friend, who i met through an internet disability site, asked me for a copy of my report, which i duly sent her.

She was astonished at why my report said i “HAD DECLINED” to do movements on seventy five occasions………………

My friend advised me that the use of the wording, ” HAD DECLINED”, was not an option that was available on the software that the nurse had used, she should have ticked a box on the software that stated the “CLAIMANT WAS UNABLE TO PERFORM THE TASK”

To follow this up, my friend sent a freedom of information request to the DWP, asking why the ATOS nurse had used the expression, ” CLIENT DECLINED”, instead of using the tick box that was available.

The use of the term was plainly obvious, it was used to discredit the claimant in making out that he or she had refused to do something, when in fact the claimant was not able to perform the task that was required……………………………….

Obviously, i was awarded zero points, having previously been awarded a disability for life and being in receipt of industrial Accident Benefit.

My medical report stated i would be fit for work in three months and my benefit was stopped……………………..

ATOS are pure evil and will cross any boundary to achieve the governments wishes………………………….

In anticipation of mass sanctioning in April – cwp time. I would urge anyone who has any savings, no matter how miniscule, to withdraw them right now. Because if you leave it until the last minute, it will show on your statements. The hardship deciders are a canny lot, for sure. I am anticipating a sanction, myself.

And I’ve also found out where my local foodbank is as well, and made the relevant enquiries about going about getting food parcels. I would urge anyone reading this not to be complacent. Don’t think it won’t happen to you.

Defo going to be mass sanctioning come April 2014, it is bad enough at the moment with the ‘not actively seeking’ bullshit, but being stuck on a placement for a full week is a sure fire recipe for being sanctioned for ‘not engaging’ or whatever! And if the hardship ‘decision makers’ will want to see something like 6 months bank statements better to clean out what few emergency shekels you have now.

There is a lot of discussion about whether IDS or ATOS is responsible for so much hardship and these deaths, but where does the buck stop? It’s at the desk of Mr. Cameron, the leader of this Conservative disaster. It is he who is ultimately culpable.

ATOS …..Don`t get me started on them. I had a lengthy heated phone conversation with them. The only answer I got in relation to my query was “It`s within the DWP guidelines” and ” I couldn`t possibly comment”. They are just inept puppets to the Tory led DWP! How the hell is someone sick and crippled supposed to get 30.3 miles to an assessment when they don`t have the use of transport? It would take me 2 buses and a train in either direction at a considerable outlay to myself(out of my £71.40 a week pittance) until I get it re-imbursed via a claim form.They told me this was my nearest assessment centre,which was a blatant lie. When I challenged this with them I was met with “It`s within DWP guidelines”. I was also told that my nearest bus stop was 6 minutes walk from my house…..Yes if you are able bodied and as fit as a fiddle and not when you are riddled with arthritis and asthmatic. This government and Atos have got blood on their hands and, will have plenty more before the next General Election.

ATOS in conjunction with, or should i say abetted by, the inglorious DWP have taken more human lives than the drones employed by the American government…………

Before we broach upon the subject of deploying ATOS and its murdering partner within one of the worlds war zones, we must first ask ourselves, what would be the most efficient method of killing civilians?

Would it be the tried and tested biased medical examination or the brown envelope approach?
Both achieve the same goal and both share the secret ingredient, anonymity…………

Whoever delivers the final blow that delivers the already incapacitated victim to meet their maker, are both protected by a cloak of darkness.

Neither will know their their killers, and the killers will not really know their victims………..

It’s really a friendship made in heaven, at least it is for the many thousands who have already met up there…………..

One must congratulate the government for linking this strategy of murdering by stealth to the creation of affordable homes.
The more that die, the more properties become available, therefore satisfying the increased demands of the private landlords.

Allowing more victims of hospital Accident and Emergency crisis and the final solution of the Bedroom Tax, have been a dream come true to create more empty properties.

Toss in the amount of sanctions being administered, fettered access to foodbanks and the whole jigsaw of welfare reform starts to form a larger clearer picture.
A picture that our monarch, our noble Queen, had the forsight to recognise well before her subjects………………….

“ETHNIC CLEANSING SUPPORTED BY ROYAL ASSENT, WHOLESALE MURDER BY DECREE”

PS Geoff
“My report stated that i succesfully sat and rose from a chair, was examined on a couch and declined to do seventy five movements that i was asked to perform.

Strangely the report also states that i was observed to stand in one place for the whole duration of the examination.”
To be in two places at once is some feat, even for an able-bodied person!
Surely the assessment could be blown out of the water on that point alone.

Sometimes the depths of depravity that the DWP will try to sink to reach another “nadir”………………………….

Just had a letter from somebody called Charlotte Trusler who works at the Blackpool benefits office.

It’s quite handy her living miles away on the opposite coast to me, as it gives her the anonymity, the cloak of darkness, that enables her to send out sanctions to an unknown, that will further destroy his life……………………….

To call someone heartless, evil, and productivity driven, would be an understatement. She is the face of uncaring Britain, fuck you jack, i’m alright!

Driving a family into destitution while reaching her sanction targets for the month is the norm, nowadays.

Why should she care about a worthless cripple who pisses himself?

Her letter makes fascinating reading, but before i continue i would like it known that i attended an ATOS medical and was found fit for work……….
They took away my incapacity benefit altogether….

………the letter states;

Mr Reynolds is entitled to the higher rate of mobility component from and including 14/11/2002,because he is virtually unable to walk considering the distance,speed, manner and time he is able to walk without severe discomfort.

Mr Reynolds is entitled to the lower rate of care component because he cannot prepare a cooked meal.

A DECISION WAS MADE TO SUSPEND MR REYNOLDS BENEFIT WAS MADE ON THE 24/7/2013 BECAUSE HE HAD NOT COMPLETED AN INQUIRY FORM.

IT IS NOT DISPUTED THAT MR REYNOLDS HAS DISABLING CONDITIONS, HOWEVER MR REYNOLDS DISABILITIES ARE NOT AT ISSUE IN THE DECISION UNDER APPEAL.
THAT DECISION IS BECAUSE MR REYNOLDS FAILED TO PROVIDE INFORMATION THAT WAS REQUESTED ON BEHALF OF THE SECRETARY OF STATE.

……….please enjoy your Christmas Charlotte. As for us at the other end of your brown envelope, don’t shed a single tear, you are only doing as instructed…………..

……..no income, no heating, no seasonal goodwill, just a chore to stay alive.

My family would like to extend their thanks for all you have done………..
Reply

If Mr. Reynolds has had an injury that prevented him from working as far back as 2002, then it is plainly obvious, even to the thickest of people, that his disability is not, and never will improve.

Whoever, Charlotte Trusler is, one thing is certain, she ain’t human.

What possible information, could the DWP, want after someone on sick has been incapacitated for eleven years?

The mind boggles!

This is just another form of torture and harassment on somebody less able to defend themselves. Bullying of a person, who is able, is thoroughly disgusting, bullying of someone not able, is surely a criminal matter that should be dealt with by the police.

Christmas is a time of the year which everybody should have the right to enjoy. It is not a privilege bestowed by how wealthy someone is.
More and more we are seeing the poorest hit by the actions of sanctions. Have the people of Britain not seen the abject poverty and destitution that many are being forced into?

How is it possible to leave a disabled man and his family without money to live on?

This incident makes me sick to my back teeth and warrants an investigation immediately.

Modern Britain, what a fucking joke!
To say the DWP and ATOS have blood on their hands is an understatement.

Have read about these endless questionnaires on other sites. Have you had your incapacity benefit stolen and now your disability living allowance?

Apparently what you have encountered is common practice within the DWP..

ESTHER MCVEY announced in parliament that persons on lifetime awards that had existing DLA, would not be called upon until October 2015 to undergo new PIP tests.
What they do nowadays is send claimants a questionnaire asking if your circumstances have changed.
Regardless of what you write, they deem your circumstances have changed, cart you off for another biased ATOS medical and strip you of your entitlements.

It has been called, entrapment, on many freedom of information requests.

Suffice to say, hardly anyone who goes for a PIP medical will be able to claim a fraction of their old DLA, many (most) will lose out altogether, as the descriptors are so prohibitive using the 20 metre rule.

There will be dancing on the streets when that piece of shit Duncan Smith snuffs it, all those involved in legalised murder will suffer for their crimes including jobcentre staff, Atos staff and all the filthy piles of unelected horse shit disguised as human beings. Take note all those who administer the misery, you will pay.

………..as strange as it may seem, somebody has requested freedom of information access to the memorandum that was issued to staff within the DWP.

The memorandum is further proof that this department is losing the plot completely when it comes to diagnosis of a claimants, physical or mental, disabilities.

Now ATOS has been secreted in the background, obviously for violating codes that the government instructed them to violate in the first instance, the DWP have now been instructed to turn to the internet………………….

Who needs trained medical staff nowadays when you can teach a nurse in a few days, cheap doctrines of how to discredit a patients disabilities, by sending them to Derby University.

It makes me wonder if they have access to the Observers book of Disability Denial…….

DISABILITY DENIAL is what all this contrived fiasco is about, a method of unleashing private health insurance on our shores using the connivance of a select group of influential people to infiltrate the powers that be…………

The FACULTY OF OCCUPATIONAL MEDICINE has been a springboard for those select people, acting in the interests of the much discredited american, UNUM INSURANCE GROUP and ATOS, to launch this attack on U.K. markets………..

Just do a bit of googling and the links with these discredited companies become sinisterley apparent.

BILL GUNNYEON, now the CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER OF THE DWP,is the kingpin behind this scandal that is yet to rock politics. Indeed, nearly every link to any event that he has chaired or spoken at, bears fruit as to the existence of corporate management sponsorship from these firms.

Each and every venue has the same participants, the same participants who have succesfully steered the government down a one way street.
Perhaps i am being a bit modest here, because the government are also part of the bigger picture, as are the AUSTERITY, WELFARE REFORMS, that have been unleashed on the weakest and poorest within our shores…………….
All part of a bigger corporate plan that was enabled by a handful of carefully chosen people.

Dame Carol Black, Paul Lichfield and Bill Gunnyeon have all been prime movers in the movement aimed at introducing private health insurance by the back door.

The decommissioning of the NHS is the biggest part of the plan. PRIVATISATION BY DECEPTION.

To bolster what i am saying, just red the following lines that show the UNUM link;
TAEN CONFERENCE, Sponsored by UNUM, London 29th oct 2008.

But, as Dr Bill Gunnyeon, former president of the Faculty of Occupational Medicine, pointed out in May, occupational medicine will need to broaden its horizons to address not only the health needs of people at work, but those of the working age population as a whole. Anything that helps people who have been ill to get back into work would be broadly welcomed by OH professionals, argues Dr Barbara Kneale, occupational health and safety advisor at car manufacturer Peugeot Citron in Coventry.

We are not aware of any meetings between officials and UNUM. However, Dame Carol Black, expert adviser on health and work to the Department, met them on three occasions in January 2012 to discuss the positive relationship between work and health.

“Dame Carol Black’s ‘fit note’ will be a major step forward in addressing attitudes towards sickness and the sooner we can introduce it, the better. Changing the mindset and therefore attitudes is the critical first step in bringing about a real and effective change in approach by all parties.

……………………………………………………………………………

Source:Occupational Health Date:01-07-2005 Type:news

Dr Bill Gunnyeon stood down in May after three years as head of the faculty to became chief medical adviser at the Department for Work and Pensions, where he will play a key role in plans to get millions of people off incapacity benefit and back into work. The role and importance of work in the lives of people and the interaction between health and work now has a profile and a focus that it has never had before, and our specialty encompasses a unique set of skills and experience that can make a significant contribution to this agenda,” Gunnyeon added.

……………………………………………………………………………

Dame Carol Black

Chief medical adviser warns that funding requests will be challenged

A tax break for companies that fund interventions to get absent employees back to work will be considered by the Government, but much work needs to be done to analyse its implications.

This was the message from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to insurers, healthcare professionals and employer representatives at the Association of British Insurers this morning.

“Any conference I have been to, it [removing tax disincentives to fund healthcare] is one of the things that employers have consistently raised and I understand that,” said Dr Bill Gunnyeon, chief medical adviser at the DWP. “But I’m not making any promises.”

……………………………………………………………………………

Health and Wellbeing at Work Conference
5-6 march 2013
Venue; NEC Birmingham

Speakers include;

Dame Carol Black

Bill Gunnyeon CBE

Professor Sir Mansel Aylward

SUPPORTED BY ATOS HEALTHCARE

…………………………………………………………………………..

Health and Wellbeing at Work Conference
5-6 march 2013
Venue; NEC Birmingham

Speakers include;

Dame Carol Black

Bill Gunnyeon CBE

Professor Sir Mansel Aylward

SUPPORTED BY ATOS HEALTHCARE

…………………………………………………………………………..

Association of British Insurers in partnership with UNUM and AXA PPP Healthcare.

BUILDING A RESILIENT WORKFORCE

Dialogue panel includes;

Dame Carol Black
James McGarry CEO UNUM
Bill Gunnyeon CBE (DWP)

……………………………………………………………………………

London 2012.
The 6th International Forum on Disability Management was chaired by two of the worlds leaders on the “good work is good for you” movement,Professors Dame Carol Black and Sir Mansel Aylward.The UK movement is going gang busters. Dr Bill Gunnyeon, Chief Medical Adviser and Director for Health and Wellbeing at the DWP,described how their surveys of GPs attitudes has shown a remarkable turnaround, with most GPs now agreeing work is beneficial for health, and around two thirds agreeing that GPs have a role in getting people back to work.

…………………………………………………………………………….

Bill Gunnyeon said:

“I am delighted to be joining the Department and very much looking forward to the challenges and opportunities which lie ahead. I will be seeking to build on the outstanding work of Professor Aylward, who has made such a valuable contribution to the Department’s achievements and whom I feel privileged to be succeeding.”

The former Chief Med­ical Advisor to the UK gov­ern­ment, Pro­fessor Mansel Ayl­ward, was instru­mental in advising the UK gov­ern­ment to set up med­ical assess­ment centres based on the model in Amer­ica, and he is still fun­ded by the same Amer­ican com­pany used in his example, with his research centre in Wales. The company’s name: UnumProvid­ent (UK). Indeed, his research centre for Psychoso­cial and Dis­ab­il­ity Research is based at Cardiff Uni­ver­sity (Pro­fessor Ayl­ward is the Dir­ector) is named the“UnumProvident Centre.” Pro­fessor Ayl­ward was also instru­mental in how the recent Wel­fare Reform Act was to be imple­men­ted by the DWP. 8

The Department for Work and Pensions announces today the appointment of Dr Bill Gunnyeon as Chief Medical Adviser, Medical Director and Chief Scientist to the Department for Work and Pensions.

Currently Medical Director of Capita Health Solutions and President of the Faculty of Occupational Medicine, Dr Gunnyeon will take up post on 1st June 2005.

He succeeds Professor Mansel Aylward CB who is retiring from the Department at the end of April to take up post as Chair in Psychosocial and Disability Research at Cardiff University and Director of the new UnumProvident Centre at the University. He will also chair the newly established Wales Centre for Health which will lead on improvements in the nation’s health.

……………………………………………………………………………

………………..ALL THE LINKS CAN BE FOUND ON YOUR COMPUTERS.
…………………………………………………………………………….

Finally, will the DWP ANSWER THE FOI REQUEST TO THE MEMORANDUM THAT WAS ISSUED THAT INSTRUCTED STAFF TO USE THE INTERNET TO LOOK UP MEDICAL CONDITIONS?

Geoffrey .. Dig deep into the Faculty of Occupational Medicine (registered as an independent charity) and you will find that they too are a member of the same Atos family along with their partner the Royal College of Physicians of which the FOM is a faculty member of, and living rent free in the same accommodation.. By both groups distancing themselves and pertaining to be a different organisation from Atos/Unum they can gain additional seats on government advisory panels, give support to policies, and be additionally consulted on new legislation to give strength to the intended changes., all whilst being part of that same group.

In 2009 the FOM held their 30th Anniversary celebration at the House of Lords supported by their sponsors Serco and Atos Healthcare..

Occupational health services serving more than 1,000,000 Government and private employees had achieved SEQOHS accreditation by October 2012. this is managed by the Royal College of Physicians (RCP) on behalf of the Faculty of Occupational Medicine (FOM). Staff working for some of the country’s biggest employers are receiving occupational health advice and support from accredited services; this includes 1,000,000 staff looked after by ATOS healthcare. A hint came from Cameron when he said “We are all in it together.”.

Notwithstanding, the government keep telling claimants that £71.20 is the amount of money needed to live on, yet i do not even receive this and was declared disabled for life after an accident at work…………….

My hands are riddled with rheumatoid arthritis and i have problems wiping my backside. I wear disposable pads that hide the fact i cannot hold my bladder sometimes when rising from a sitting position.
I purchase the pads and any medication i need from my own pocket, finding it cheaper than expensive prescriptions.

Since my DLA has been stopped i cannot afford these “luxuries”, and have been stuffing old newspapers down the front of my pants.
As a result of this i have become sore and developed thrush around my genitals. The tops of my legs have become red raw and a sickly sweet smell is evident.
Behind my foreskin is also red raw and i am discharging liquid. When i urinate i get a burning sensation in my penis.
I am not sure if the infection on my genitals is connected to having an ability to wipe my bottom properly, it could be a cross contamination of some kind.

i have developed bad gumboils in my mouth. I am not sure if it is to do with my genital infection or eating bad foods.
There are many fantastic adverts on our tv sets showing the finest of christmas cuisine, but this is a luxury that me and my family will never be able to afford. Todays menu will be the same as yesterday, an onion ring sandwich, and out of date at that…………………….
The physical abuse that is being directed at persons with a handicap is no joke. The biggest perpetrators are our own DWP. It seems to have developed into a national sport where the criteria seems to include, who can do the most evil to someone in dire circumstances.

No doubt there will be people just waiting to ridicule what i write, these are the people who sit back and poke fun at those in the weakest position, those not able to fight back.

Please feel free to ridicule, as it is you, and not i, who needs help badly. You have succumbed to the lowest base possible……………………….

Geoff, there’s not much I can do from this end, but I’ve copied your message above to ATOS with the following intro;

“I came across this by a gentleman who recently lost his benefits following an ATOS “assessment” – you might want to trace who this assessor was, and notify the DWP that your procedures might have been lacking in this instance;”

If I knew who your MP was, I’d also be contacting them on your behalf, sadly I don’t have enough details to (a) find the MP (b) give them sufficient information to be able to act on your behalf – can you contact them yourself ?

I’ve not read all the previous comments. But it strikes me that not only is this cabal of millionaires egregious in the extreme, they cannot do maths, and they need to go.
Not voting, or idiotic *protest* votes, are not an option, since that’s why we’re here now.
And let’s stop referring to the *squeezed middle* with scorn can we?
Quite apart from tha fact that the avarage median income is far from rich it’s just anither example of how *divide and rule* is becoming so pervasive in society.
And that’s just facilitating the very *race to the bottom* these vermin want.
I’m NOT going along with that.

It’s about time people got together and did something the way it’s going is so wrong there is not a word to describe one day they will have to answer for what they have done and allowing people to suffer be humiliated and even die just so the rich can get richer remember we the poor people are more powerful than them becouse there is so many of us cunt and few of them dident the poor people get the hump in another country some time ago and they cut of all the rich scums heads and took there food to feed there starving children c what happens

I remember as a small child: the unions marching on parliament and terrifying Heath… Thatcher and her pigs killed off that kind of protest during the miner’s strike. But I believe it’s time that people started protesting in the old way once more… No amount of blogs, petitions, tweets, comments or online ‘protest’ is going to frighten these Tory vermin. People need to organize, mobilise, point to Whitehall and bloody CHARGE! Look at the Poll Tax riots in London in 1990 and the impact they had: They helped to finish Maggie. The same thing needs to be done again, and I don’t mean breaking into shops to loot tellys and trainers…. The guilty need to be really targeted! It’s the only way!

Follow Blog via Email

By John Pring Disability News Service 3rd May 2018 A national network of mental health service-users, survivors and activists is facing closure next month if it cannot secure new funding, after becoming the latest victim of competition from large, non-user-led … Continue reading →

Boycott Workfare is the only independent campaign to successfully oppose all forms of ”conditionality” aka sanctions and workfare, no ifs, buts, political strings attached or punches pulled. We are now stepping up to take on Universal Credit. The Conditionality of Universal Credit aka sanctions and workfare have received little attention in reports by campa […]

As well as our previous post about a vigil at 1.30 pm concerning two UC cases this weektThe Alliance For Inclusive Education supports a human rights legal challenge around the provision of support for Disabled pupils with visual impairments within mainstream schooling. On the 23rd January in the High Court a severely visually impaired pupil… Continue Readin […]

A Film Loved Across Europe. Last weekend when they showed I, Daniel Blake, on the telly many people asked me if I had watched it. I did not. The reason is very simple: some of the scenes (which I have seen from clips that our contributors posted on this site) were part of my own […]

There is much speculation whether the chaos in Westminster could eventually lead to a snap general election. Governments come and go, but it seems the constant battle to protect the right to freedom of assembly remains unabated. Eight years ago the Coalition government promised to “‘restore the right to protest by reforming the Public Order Act to safeguard […]